Best Books of 2018
Last updated: September 17, 2024
As every year draws to a close, we approach experts and ask them to recommend the best books that have been published in their field that year. Below you'll find all our 2018 reading lists. (Our 2017 and 2016 lists are also still available). You can also browse all our 2018 Editors' Picks.
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1
Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray
by Sabine Hossenfelder -
2
The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life
by David Quammen -
3
Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
by Alan Stern & David Grinspoon -
4
The Biological Mind: How Brain, Body, and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are
by Alan Jasanoff -
5
A Lab of One’s Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War
by Patricia Fara
The Best Science Books of 2018, recommended by Barbara Kiser
The Best Science Books of 2018, recommended by Barbara Kiser
“As life on Earth is rocked by conflict and environmental crisis, these serene little scientific emissaries remind us of how different it can be when we collaborate selflessly in the getting of knowledge.” Barbara Kiser, veteran science journalist and the books and arts editor at Nature, chooses the best science books of 2018.
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1
Hello World: How to Be Human in the Age of the Machine
by Hannah Fry -
2
The Spy and the Traitor
by Ben Macintyre -
3
Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man
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4
Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age
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5
Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy
by Serhii Plokhy -
6
She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
by Carl Zimmer
The Best Nonfiction Books of 2018, recommended by Fiammetta Rocco
The Best Nonfiction Books of 2018, recommended by Fiammetta Rocco
It’s a difficult task: to identify the very best nonfiction books of the year. But the Baillie Gifford Prize aims to do just that. The chair of the prize’s 2018 judging panel Fiammetta Rocco talks to us about the six fascinating titles that made the shortlist.
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1
Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny
by Kate Manne -
2
Aristotle's Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life
by Edith Hall -
3
I Am Dynamite!: A Life of Nietzsche
by Sue Prideaux -
4
Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are
by John Kaag -
5
Being and Nothingness
by Jean-Paul Sartre & Sarah Richmond (translator)
The Best Philosophy Books of 2018, recommended by Nigel Warburton
The Best Philosophy Books of 2018, recommended by Nigel Warburton
What can Nietzsche and Aristotle teach us about how to live? Should everyone read Being and Nothingness? From a philosophical approach to misogyny to an interrogation of whether it’s morally acceptable to have a Facebook account, philosopher Nigel Warburton introduces us to the best philosophy books of 2018.
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1
Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer
by Jeyaraney Kathirithamby & Sarah B Pomeroy -
2
Young Heroes
by Lula Bridgeport -
3
What We See in the Stars: An Illustrated Tour of the Night Sky
by Kelsey Oseid -
4
Ocean
by Emmanuelle Grundmann & Hélène Druvert -
5
A History of Pictures for Children
by David Hockney & Martin Gayford
The Best Children’s Nonfiction of 2018, recommended by Zoe Greaves
The Best Children’s Nonfiction of 2018, recommended by Zoe Greaves
Author and Five Books children’s editor Zoe Greaves selects the best nonfiction books for children published in 2018.
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1
Thomas Cromwell: A Life
by Diarmaid MacCulloch -
2
Milk of Paradise: A History of Opium
by Lucy Inglis -
3
Iran: A Modern History
by Abbas Amanat -
4
Invisible Agents: Women and Espionage in Seventeenth-Century Britain
by Nadine Akkerman -
5
Power, Pleasure, and Profit: Insatiable Appetites from Machiavelli to Madison
by David Wootton
The Best History Books of 2018, recommended by Paul Lay
The Best History Books of 2018, recommended by Paul Lay
From female spies during the English Civil Wars to the enduring distinctiveness of Iran, there is much left to be understood about history globally. Editor of History Today Paul Lay recommends the best history books that hit the shelves in 2018.
The Best Comics of 2018, recommended by Hillary Chute
Comics are taking over the world, says Northeastern Professor and comics expert Hillary Chute. Here, she introduces the best comics published in 2018, from a Booker-nominated narrative about paranoia and living in the age of fake news to feminist comics published by underground, auteur-driven independent publishers
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1
Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music
by Ann Powers -
2
The New Analog: Listening and Reconnecting in a Digital World
by Damon Krukowski -
3
All in the Downs: Reflections on Life, Landscape, and Song
by Shirley Collins -
4
Night Moves
by Jessica Hopper -
5
My Thoughts Exactly
by Lily Allen
The Best Music Books of 2018, recommended by Laura Snapes
The Best Music Books of 2018, recommended by Laura Snapes
From a social history of the sexual and racial dynamics at play in American pop music to a meditation on how we consume music in the digital age, deputy music editor at The Guardian, Laura Snapes, picks the best music books of 2018.
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1
The Way Past Winter
by Kiran Millwood Hargrave -
2
The Skylarks' War
by Hilary McKay -
3
Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain & Ireland
Kevin Crossley-Holland (Author) and Frances Castle (illustrator) -
4
The Afterwards
AF Harrold (author) and Emily Gravett (illustrator) -
5
The Train to Impossible Places
PG Bell (author) and Flavia Sorrentino (illustrator)
Editors’ Picks: The Best Children’s Fiction of 2018, recommended by Zoe Greaves
Editors’ Picks: The Best Children’s Fiction of 2018, recommended by Zoe Greaves
From World War I to a book with a hint of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Five Books children’s editor Zoe Greaves nominates her favourite children’s fiction of 2018.
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1
The Republic of Beliefs
by Kaushik Basu -
2
The Community of Advantage: A Behavioural Economist's Defence of the Market
by Robert Sugden -
3
Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management
by Caitlin Rosenthal -
4
No Ordinary Woman: The Life of Edith Penrose
by Angela Penrose -
5
Exact Thinking in Demented Times: The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science
by Karl Sigmund
The Best Economics Books of 2018, recommended by Diane Coyle
The Best Economics Books of 2018, recommended by Diane Coyle
From a book about applying game theory to public policy to an account of how modern management practices were first developed on slave plantations, it’s been another good year for interesting and accessible economics books. Cambridge professor Diane Coyle talks us through her selection of the best economics books of 2018.
The Best Fiction of 2018, recommended by Kwame Anthony Appiah
Looking for the best novels of the year? Kwame Anthony Appiah, professor of philosophy at New York University and chair of the 2018 Man Booker Prize for fiction, gives an in-depth breakdown of the six books that made this year’s shortlist, and reflects on why the novel as a form is stronger than ever.